New Hampshire Legislators Kill Bitcoin Tax Bill

A legislative effort that would have allowed New Hampshire residents to pay their tax bills using bitcoin has been defeated.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 264 to 74 to kill the bill on 20th January – a move that came just over a year after the measure was first introduced.

The bill was introduced by state Representative Eric Schleien last January and proposed letting citizens in New Hampshire pay taxes and fees using the digital currency.

If passed, the New Hampshire State Treasurer would have been mandated to select a bitcoin payments firm to process the transactions and prepare a plan for how to accept bitcoin payments by January 2017.

Yet the bill faced opposition during initial debates. At the time, representatives raised questions about the exchange rate risks the state would experience due to fluctuating market prices of bitcoin.

Last fall, the subcommittee tasked with weighing the bill recommended that it be voted 'inexpedient to legislate' – legal jargon meaning the measure should be killed.

When reached for comment, Schleien told CoinDesk that future steps include working with those legislators that did vote for the measure and that he intended to submit a similar bill two years from now.

​"Seventy-four votes for the bill. Good showing for a first time. More education and outreach needed. More activism needed," said Schleien.